Surreptitious (London) (4 page)

Sounding no less amused considering he’d spent enough time on the receiving end of my sharp tongue he leaned even further forward so he was right in my face and whispered “Nope, sorry
baby girl,
I like it!” Considering he was so close my face, my breathing automatically increased, my pupils dilated and my mouth went dry. Yeah, I really
really
wanted to lick him. Through this, I forgot that my best friend had gone freakishly pale and the light had gone out of her eyes until she croaked,

“Um, Tay Tay, I’m so so sorry, I’ll never leave you alone again I promise. Never ever again, god when I think about what could have happened to you. Oh please forgive me babe,
please...
you know I can’t deal with it when you’re mad at me. I love you and it will never ever
ever
happen again.” I looked at her whilst she bit her lip as tears formed in her eyes and she blinked to try and stop them falling, which failed miserably and a sob eventually tore from her throat.

I ran over and wrapped my arms around her
tight
and whispered in her ear. “You and me babe, always you and me. I’d forgive you the world I swear. I’m okay, nothing happened to me, could have happened to anyone, I knew to be more careful. I love you too, forever and always yeah?”

I kept whispering reassuring words in her ear until her breathing evened out and she whispered back “Forever and always chick”. I loosened my hold around her, stepped back slightly and glanced back to see that Mason had moved to pour himself a coffee and both him and Jackson were staring at us with their eye-brows pulled in looking like they were trying to figure out what the hell just happened. Harper leaned in close to my ear and whispered in a voice I could barely hear whilst keeping her eyes on Mason.

“Babe, um...would you um...mind if...like, I stayed here for a while? I can get Mase to drop me off at yours later if you want? Is that ok?” I looked in her eyes and I could tell she hadn’t let last night go seeing as she was asking my permission to stay somewhere but I held her eyes and nodded anyway. Then I turned back to Jackson/Mr Gorgeous and said...

“Look, I hate to ask anything of you, ok, I more than hate it, but is there any chance you could take me home?”

“ ‘Course baby girl, I was just waiting for you to get ready and I planned on it.” He replied.

“Good. Thank you. Um, where are my clothes?!”

The corners of his mouth pulled up further and he full-on grinned at me. I had yet to see him smile properly and my heart skipped a beat at the sight. Wow, this man just got more perfect by the second, and I seriously hated it!

Straight, perfect, white teeth, full lips that I wanted to nibble on and dimples on either cheek.
Damn, just too perfect.
There’s a reason I stay away from men and I’m sticking to it. Yes, I’m definitely sticking to it. I was certainly not tempted to rip off Jackson’s shorts, straddle him on the stool and to hell with anyone else in the room, get my rocks off right then and there. Nope, the thought never even entered my mind...

I was too busy
not
playing through my sexual fantasy in my head that I didn’t notice straight away when he’d started talking again and missed the start of what he said.

“...so I sent it to the dry-cleaners but your shoes are in the closet in the hallway.” He looked over at me, raised an eye-brow and said “are you ok?...you look kind of...um, flushed?!”

“I...um...ye...ahem...yes I’m um fine. Yeah I’m ok. So do you...um have something with a drawstring or something that I could put on for the drive home?”
Jeez woman...stop...bloody...stuttering!!
He gave me a funny look but stood up anyway, grabbed my hand and led me back to the bedroom. I tried to ignore Harper’s mouth drop open and her eyes widen when she glanced at our joined hands because I was too busy thinking in what alternate universe did I allow random men to hold my hand and lead me towards their bedroom without screaming bloody murder.

Once inside he opened the middle draw of a white chest of drawers grabbed a pair of grey jogging bottoms and chucked them on the bed before opening the top drawer and picking out another plain black t-shirt and adding it to the pile. He shut the drawer and turned to me stating,

“They’re tight on me, they’ll still be well too big for you but it’s the best I can do. Yellow toothbrush in the bathroom, never been used, spare, you can use that and I think there’s a comb on the shelf...you can use that too. I don’t have any shoes you can wear, because yours were a six, and mine are an eleven, so it’s either borrow some socks out of the drawer next to the bed or wear the sex-kitten heels you wore last night...though I’m pretty sure you’ll look even more ridiculous in a too big t-shirt, too big joggers and strappy, silver sex-kitten heels...oh and yeah you didn’t um...have any underwear on under your dress so, you can grab a pair of my boxers out of the same drawer...or um...just wear nothing?”

Instead of answering him, because I was pretty sure my voice would just come out all high-pitched and squeaky from sheer embarrassment of the fact that HE KNEW I WASN’T WEARING ANY UNDERWEAR BECAUSE HE’D
SEEN
ME!! I just seized the clothes off his bed and stormed into the bathroom. I kept my head held high so he didn’t see the effect he had on me but my face felt like it was on fire so if I looked half as red as I felt then he would have seen it a mile off!

Jackson

I laughed under my breath at the look on Taylor’s face when I mentioned the fact that I knew she wasn’t wearing any underwear yesterday. Not that it would have made the whole thing any worse if she hadn’t have reacted like that. I might have thought she was a strung out druggie at the time but I still had time to admire the fact that she had a
seriously
fine body, soft, smooth and curvy in all the right places. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on that ass when she wasn’t almost comatose.

At the reminder of the state she was in last night, my hands curled into fists and I clenched my teeth at the thought of some fucking asshole thinking he could get his hands on my girl through drugs. She might not have known yet that she was my girl, but she’d get it...eventually! Most men would turn and run in the other direction when faced with her sharp tongue, but nah, not me; she might give all that mouth when it suits her. But I knew she was hiding behind that fierce shield she had, I could already see it! For someone like me, she was a challenge and I’ve never backed down.

In total, I’d probably spent just over an hour with her when she was awake, and I already knew she was gonna be my equal.
Perfect!!
I strolled back to the kitchen, where Mason and Taylor’s friend...um...Harper?...were still necking. She was sitting on the island and he stood between her legs with his hands on her ass.

Most brothers would give him shit about making-out with a bird all over their house but he doesn’t make a habit of it and considering they didn’t even break apart when I put my cup in the dishwasher and moved my tablet from behind them, I figured who the hell am I to interrupt their foreplay?!

My mind strayed back to the girl changing in my bathroom and I couldn’t help but form a smile at her sass. She’s was so full of shit, that girl couldn’t be more into me if she tried, all I had to do was stretch my arms and it was written all over her face how turned on she was.
Damn if she has that much of a hair-trigger then this should be easier than I thought!

If I was honest with myself I figured I didn’t really have time for a steady girl, but there was just something about her, like I was drawn to her.
Fuckin’ pussy whipped already?!
I knew she was gonna bring a hell of a lot of fun and games into my life so I thought...fuck it...

GAME ON MISS CORSI.

Taylor

I dressed as quickly as I could, ran the toothbrush around my mouth a few times and attempted to tame my hair (at which I failed...
miserably
), and as I dashed out of the bedroom I collided with
yet another
naked chest. This time however, I put my hands out to steady myself but when I looked up expecting to see Mason, I encountered the same beautiful sparkling grey eyes of my Mr Gorgeous –
Wait, when the hell did he become MY Mr Gorgeous?!
– and stepped back with a furrowed brow trying to comprehend where in the hell all these ridiculously gorgeous men kept appearing from when I realised that Jackson had said he had ‘brothers’ so I assumed this must his other younger brother.

“Um, hey. Sorry about that, I’m Taylor” I put my hand out for him to shake and he stared at it for a minute before taking my small hand in his large one giving it a firm shake.

“Ruben.”

“Are you um...Jackson’s younger brother? You look really like him. It’s actually kinda weird how alike all three of you look. You’ve got like really good genes because you’re gorgeous! Still, I bet you’re younger than me right? I’m twenty-three...so you must be what? Like nineteen/twenty?...Yeah you definitely look younger than Mason and he’s twenty-one right?”
Jesus woman, stop chattering for god’s sake!!

“So you’re a talker huh? Yes, I’m the youngest brother, yes we all look alike, thanks for the compliment, yes you were right, I’m twenty, and Mase is twenty-one.”

He chuckled at me, shook his head and walked towards the kitchen. I followed him at a slower pace trying to work out what the hell was happening to me considering I couldn’t stop chattering like a fucking monkey.

Chapter five

Jackson

I walked Taylor out to the garage and bleeped the door opener, but as I went to step into the car I noticed she hadn’t followed me so I looked behind me and raised a brow at her expectantly. She was staring at my car like it held the answers to all her desires and I couldn’t help but laugh at her face. She startled at my laugh and looked up at me so I answered what I assumed her silent question was.

“It’s an Aston Martin V12 Vantage...” She raised her eye-brows like I’d lost my freaking mind and exclaimed...

“It is NOT
just
an Aston Martin V12 Vantage. This is my freaking dream car. This baby is the bloody car to end all cars. It’s better than chocolate fudge sundaes, Chelsea Football club, the sunrise, the sunset, the fucking air I breathe, and the whole god damn lot put together!” She walked around the car running a single finger along the edges running off the stats by heart “600 BHP, 12 cylinders, top speed of 200 MPH, 0-60 in four freaking seconds!”

She started bouncing on the balls of her feet and her face lit up. Watching her get so excited about my car, which I had to agree, was pretty damn good although I was ready for an upgrade, felt like a punch in the gut. It just socked the air straight out of my lungs and I had to lean slightly into the car to keep myself up.
Yeah, seriously pussy-whipped!

She just kept getting more and more beautiful, so far I’d seen her stunned, relaxed, drunk,
drugged
, frustrated and just downright angry, but never, not once, had I seen her face light up like that. I wanted to grab her face in both my hands and feast on her mouth ‘til neither of us could breathe but I already knew she was flighty and I knew she would run, so I took a deep breath, shook my head at her with a smile on my face and slid into the car.

Taylor

My dream car! Mr Gorgeous...Jackson, not only had the most gorgeous eyes I’d ever seen, arms that I wanted to lick, lips that I wanted to nibble on and generally just got my temperature soaring, now I knew he owned my
freaking
dream car!! I’ll be honest, I wasn’t exactly sure how I managed to walk to the car and get in without melting in a puddle at his feet. Damn...just...
damn.
 

He reversed out of the garage and swung the car round on the paved driveway, he threw a wicked grin my way and I automatically gripped the edge of my seat...
hard.

“Ready to ride baby girl?” He winked at me which caused a serious case of butterflies in my belly but didn’t give me time to answer before he slammed his foot down on the accelerator.

The whole machine, yes that’s right, not car,
machine
...lurched forward and forced me back in my seat and he pulled out into the traffic. If it hadn’t have been for the fact that we didn’t get side-swiped on the way out, then I would have sworn he didn’t even check to see if anything was coming first but alas, this didn’t happen so I decided to trust his driving skills a little and enjoy my first ride in my dream car.

Cruising along the M25 at speed, I was too busy thinking that for the first time in five years, I felt seriously lucky to be sitting in this
machine
, next to this man, to realise he had driven in the opposite direction of my apartment. It wasn’t until we drove past a sign for Dagenham that I realised he really wasn’t taking me home. I sat up straight in my seat and swivelled to face him.

“Um, you are aware that you are nowhere near my place right?” I knew the answer to my question as soon as he flashed me a cheeky grin, flicked his eyes towards me but then straight back and answered...

“Ahh yeah, well I thought you might fancy a longer drive since your house is about ten minutes from mine depending on the traffic and you can’t feel this baby
move
on the back streets. Then when I headed to the motorway, figured I may as well take you to the track and really open her up.” He shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal and winked again before staring straight ahead out the windshield.

I couldn’t believe he’d taken me somewhere I had no interest in going, well okay, I had an
interest
in going, because again, it was
my DREAM car
. But still, he could have ASKED me if I wanted to go! I leaned across and hissed in his ear,

“Seriously?! Did you ever think of ASKING me if I wanted to go to ‘the track’ with you?”

“Well no...since I know you would have said no, but you would have really wanted to say yes, so I made the decision for you!”
Yeah if he shrugs his shoulders once more I’m going to freaking scream!

“So in essence, you’re kidnapping me, forcing me to spend time with you when I don’t want to, and taking me to a place I don’t even want to go to?!”
Liar Liar pants on fire!!

“Yep.”

“Wha...YEP?! I don’t even know you! You can’t force me to go!”

“Here’s the deal...”
Oh shit.
“I’ve spent all of about two hours with you not including the time you were comatose. You’re beautiful, sexy, classy, funny and you’ve got a hell of a temper on you. I LIKE that. You don’t think about things, you just do them, but only in your little safety zone. For example, you’re happy to lash out at everyone with words, because that’s your safety net. But there’s fire in your eyes that isn’t burning bright enough baby girl. It doesn’t need to be extinguished, it needs a fucking accelerant. Hold on for the ride babe, because I’m gonna push you until your burning so fucking bright every...single...
person...
out there will know you’re a god damn inferno.”

I was struck speechless by what he’d said to me. No no no NO
NO
, I did not need someone getting all up in my business. Normally I would run for the hills but I was intrigued by the fact he’d basically just compared me to a fire, his club was called ‘Blaze’ and it had amazing monitors running the length of the bar displaying huge flames.
Hmmm, interesting.

“Um, are you like...some sort of...um...pyromaniac?!” He didn’t answer me, instead he clicked the indicator, turned off the motorway, pulled up on a side-road and burst out laughing.
He pulled the car over, and BURST OUT LAUGHING...AT ME!!

He was laughing so hard the whole car was shaking, he held a hand over his stomach and rested his head on the hand at the steering wheel. I wasn’t really sure what exactly he found so funny, so instead of questioning him further, I took the time to appreciate the fact that he had an
amazing
laugh, really
amazing
, rich, husky and so damn sexy, it was beautiful to watch and I loved it, even if the whole thing did confuse the hell out of me. It slowed down to a chuckle and then he turned to me with a smile on his face, reached a hand out towards me and swept a thumb over the arch of my cheek.
Oh damn that felt really nice...too nice. Shit.

“Baby girl, you are too funny! No, no I’m not a ‘pyromaniac’! I like what it represents. Fire...It’s bright, it’s beautiful, it’s free, it’s uncontrollable and it’s unpredictable. That’s how I live my life, and it’s how I’m gonna teach to live yours.”
Wow.
It was scaring me how much he was getting to me so I tried to deflect with a joke,

“Didn’t your parents ever teach you that it’s dangerous to play with fire?” I immediately knew I’d made a mistake when the cheeky face I’d already become accustomed to disappeared, shadows formed behind his eyes and I literally watched his whole face shut down. He clicked the indicator and pulled the car out into the road again before he said eerily.

“My
parents
didn’t teach me anything. They’re not worth talking about.” He said the word ‘
parents’
like he was telling me that someone just spit in his face. Pure disgust.
No nicknames, no terms of endearment, no quirky one-liners. Just that. I decided to shut up for a while because he seemed to just want the silence.
Not to self, do not mention parents around Mr Gorgeous.